International Criminal Justice and the Politics of Compliance provides a comprehensive study of compliance with legal obligations derived from the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia's (ICTY) Statute and integrates theoretical debates on compliance into international justice scholarship. Through the use of three models of compliance based on coercion, self-interest and norms, Christopher Lamont explores both the domestic politics of war crimes indictments and efforts by external actors such as the European Union, the United States and the Tribunal itself to induce compliance outcomes. He examines whether compliance outcomes do or do not translate into a changed normative understanding of international criminal justice on the part of target states.

This book theorizes the ways in which states that are presumed to be weaker in the international system use the International Criminal Court (ICC) to advance their security and political interests. Ultimately, it contends that African states have managed to instrumentally and strategically use the international justice system to their advantage, a theoretical framework that challenges the “justice cascade” argument. The empirical work of this study focuses on four major themes around the intersection of power, states' interests, and the global governance of atrocity crimes: firstly, the strategic use of self-referrals to the ICC; secondly, complementarity between national and the international justice system; thirdly, the limits of state cooperation with international courts; and finally the use of international courts in domestic political conflicts. This book is valuable to students, scholars, and researchers who are interested in international relations, international criminal justice, peace and conflict studies, human rights, and African politics.

The Politics of International Criminal Law is an interdisciplinary collection of original research that examines the often noted but understudied political dimensions of International Criminal Law, and the challenges this nascent legal regime faces to its legitimacy in world affairs.

Critically explores the International Criminal Court's evolution and the domestic effects of its interventions in three African countries.

International politics has become increasingly legalized over the past fifty years, restructuring the way states interact with each other, international institutions, and their own constituents. The international legalization of human rights now makes it possible for individuals to take human rights claims against their governments at international courts such as the European and Inter-American Courts of Human Rights. This book brings together theories from international law, human rights and international relations to explain the increasingly important phenomenon of states' compliance with human rights tribunals' rulings. It argues that this is an inherently domestic affair. It posits three overarching questions: why do states comply with human rights tribunals' rulings? How does the compliance process unfold and what are the domestic political considerations around compliance? What effect does compliance have on the protection of human rights? The book answers these through a combination of quantitative analyses and in-depth case studies from Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Italy, Portugal, Russia and the United Kingdom.

The International Criminal Court emerged in the early twenty-first century as an ambitious and permanent institution with a mandate to address mass atrocity crimes such as genocide and crimes against humanity. Although designed to exercise jurisdiction only in instances where states do not pursue these crimes themselves (and are unwilling or unable to do so), the Court's interventions, particularly in African states, have raised questions about the social value of its work and its political dimensions and effects. Bringing together scholars and practitioners who specialise on the ICC, this collection offers a diverse account of its interventions: from investigations to trials and from the Court's Hague-based centre to the networks of actors who sustain its activities. Exploring connections with transitional justice and international relations, and drawing upon critical insights from the interpretive social sciences, it offers a novel perspective on the ICC's work. This title is also available as Open Access.

International Criminal Law in Context provides a critical and contextual introduction to the fundamentals of international criminal law. It goes beyond a doctrinal analysis focused on the practice of international tribunals to draw on a variety of perspectives, capturing the complex processes of internationalisation that criminal law has experienced over the past few decades. The book considers international criminal law in context and seeks to account for the political and cultural factors that have influenced – and that continue to influence – this still-emerging body of law. Considering the substance, procedures, objectives, justifications and impacts of international criminal law, it addresses such topics as: • the history of international criminal law; • the subjects of international criminal law; • transitional justice and international criminal justice; • genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and the crime of aggression; • sexual and gender-based crimes; • international and hybrid criminal tribunals; • sentencing under international criminal law; and • the role of victims in international criminal procedure. The book will appeal to those who want to study international criminal law in a critical and contextualised way. Presenting original research, it will also be of interest to scholars and practitioners already familiar with the main legal and policy issues relating to this body of law.

This book puts forward proposals for solutions to the current gaps between the Mexican legal order and the norms and principles of international criminal law. Adequate legislative measures are suggested for compliance with international obligations. The author approaches the book's subject matter by tracing all norms related to the prosecution of core crimes and contextualizing each of the findings with a brief historical and political account. Additionally, state practice is analyzed, identifying patterns and inconsistencies. This approach is new in offering a wide perspective on international criminal law in Mexico. Relevant legal documents are analyzed and annexed in the book, providing the reader with a useful guide to the topics analyzed. Issues including the following are examined: the incorporation of core crimes in the Mexican legal order, military jurisdiction, the war crimes definition under Mexican law, unaddressed atrocities, state practice and future challenges to combat impunity. The book will be of relevance to legal scholars, students, practitioners of law and human rights advocates. It also offers interesting insights to political scientists, historians and journalists. Tania Ixchel Atilano has a Dr. Iur. from the Humboldt Universität Berlin, an LLM in German Law from the Ludwig Maximilian Universität, Munich, and attained her law degree at the ITAM in Mexico City.

This comprehensive Companion examines the achievements and challenges of the International Criminal Court (ICC), the world’s first permanent international criminal tribunal. It provides an overview of the first two decades of the ICC’s existence, investigating the dominant narratives and counter-narratives that have emerged about the institution and its work.